Williams was back for the debut of CBS' "The Crazy Ones," and appears to still have a certain pull with viewers.

With a big boost from "The Big Bang Theory," the comedy series that stars Williams as a copywriter at an ad firm run by his daughter, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, drew 15. 6 million viewers, according to early numbers from Nielsen.

"Crazy Ones" posted a rating of 4.0 in the key 18-49 demographic, in which a ratings point equals roughly 1.3 million viewers.

"The Big Bang Theory," for which Jim Parsons just won an acting Emmy, had back-to-back new episodes leading into "The Crazy Ones." The first drew 18.3 million viewers and a demo rating of 5.3, up 6 percent from last year's premiere.

The second "Big Bang" episode brought in an audience of 19.5 million and an 18-49 rating of 5.8, for an increase of 16 percent compared with last year, making it easily the highest rated show of the night.

After Williams' show was "Two and a Half Men." The Ashton Kutcher-anchored series fell 17 percent from last year's premiere to a 2.9. "Elementary" fell 32 percent to a 2.1.

In all, CBS was the winning network for the night with more than 14.2 million viewers and a 3.7 in 18-49.

NBC aired back-to-back episodes of "The Michael J. Fox Show." The combined audience for the two didn't fare nearly as well as Williams' series. The two episodes had 7.28 million viewers and a rating of 2.1 in 18-49 demo, making it one of the lowest rated comedy premieres of the season. However, the show maintained its rating through the full hour and grew its audience by 2 percent.

"Michael J. Fox" also had a considerably weaker lead-in from "Parks & Recreation," which drew a 1.3 rating, down 24 percent from last year's season opener. Family tearjerker "Parenthood" was down 16 percent from last year.

Next week, "Sean Saves the World" will air at 9 p.m. and "Michael J. Fox" will follow at 9:30.

ABC followed a rerun of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." with a two-hour season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy," which drew 9.26 million viewers and a rating of 3.4, down 23 percent from last year's one-hour debut.

Fox's "The X Factor" gained 5 percent in the 18-49 group compared with last Thursday for a 2.0. "Glee's" premiere fell sharply from last year's and was about flat with its season finale at 2.0.

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